PSN restoration still 'uncertain,' yet full service expected by May 31

Sony said today it's still "uncertain" when the PlayStation Network will be back up, though full service is expected by the end of May.

[Update 1:00PM PST 5/9/2011]: Apparently, the wording in Sunday's Bloomberg news report (the basis of our original story) wasn't entirely accurate. According to Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold, Sony hasn't confirmed a relaunch date for the PlayStation Network, and the May 31 "deadline" in the Bloomberg article is incorrect (via VentureBeat). Gaming site GiantBomb is also reporting that they've since confirmed with Sony that no PSN relaunch deadline has been established.

[Original]: Sony said today that it's still "uncertain" when the PlayStation Network will be back up and running, following a hack that saw members' personal data stolen. Somewhat surprisingly, though, the company still expects to have the service fully back up and running by the end of May.

Speaking with Bloomberg today, Sony spokesperson Shigenori Yoshida said the company was still "uncertain" when the PlayStation Network and Qriocity would be back up. However, Yoshida said that Sony was confident that by May 31, the new security measures would be in place and both services would be fully restored. One would hope that certain elements will be resorted before then, though.

Sony's past estimates for restoration have been a touch too optimistic. On April 26, the company said it expected to have some services restored within a week. Come May 1, it said again that some parts of PSN would be back up within a week, starting with important things like online multiplayer. The restoration update was going through internal testing on May 6. Today, May 9, nothing has returned yet.

There's still no firm word on when Sony's MMO division, Sony Online Entertainment, will be resume service. SOE was also hacked and subsequently brought offline for analysis and repairs, leaving players unable to play games including DC Universe Online.